Weather's Edge: A Compendium

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta. He is co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities:
British Views of Canada, 1880–1914, author of The Salvation Army and
the Public, and editor of “Improved by Cult

“This compendium,” states the introduction, “sets out to capture
the richness and diversity of women’s lives in Newfoundland and
Labrador. It includes contributions from short story writers, scholars,
poets and community activists and policy makers as well as extracts from
letters, diaries and short biographical pieces.”

As an expression of richness and diversity, and as a forum for female
views of social issues, it certainly is a worthwhile and successful
endeavour. While one could not hope to read the almost 400 pages at a
sitting, a casual dipping into them to read Carmelita McGrath’s
delightful memoir of a young Catholic, “Scarlet Girl,” or Robin
McGrath’s whimsical poem “Escaped Domestics,” or Joanne
Soper-Cook’s poignant short story “Effie’s Landwash,” or even
Brenda Grzetic’s insightful study “Between Life and Death:
Fisherwomen in Newfoundland and Labrador” will prove both enlightening
and rewarding.

There are a few quibbles. Though the editors would like this to be a
serendipitous experience, inviting readers to make their own connections
between the pieces, it would have been more inviting to have divided the
material into manageable sections, by genre or thematically. A tossed
salad approach invites people only to put the whole thing aside. It
would also have been helpful to have identified the source of each
piece, thereby inviting the reader to seek out such excellent books as
Soper-Cook’s The Opium Lady (which I happened to recognize but most
might not). But, these quibbles aside, there is much here to entertain
and instruct. A very useful compendium.